A man aged 77 overturned an £85 fine for parking too long in the Alton Sainsbury’s car park by proving he was not there for all the time it was claimed.

Tony Everden received the Euro Car Parks fine after allegedly breaching the two-hour limit by spending five hours and 28 minutes there on April 5.

He told the Herald he drove his daughter and grandchildren into Alton High Street at 11.15am and went on to Sainsbury's, arriving at 11.21am as logged by the camera.

After half an hour he drove home to his wife, which took ten minutes. He returned to Alton to pick up his daughter and grandchildren at 1.15pm, then they drove to Lidl for groceries and party supplies.

Tony said: “We left Lidl at 1.50pm and drove home, arriving back at Wyck at 2pm. Thankfully I have a timed receipt for my Lidl visit, which is clearly marked as being at 1.46pm. I also have my Amex receipt, which pairs with the Lidl one.”

Tony returned at 4pm to buy a shirt in Sainsbury’s, leaving at 4.49pm as logged by the camera.

Tony said: “As you can clearly see from the timeline of events, there is absolutely no possible way that I could have remained in the car park from 11.21am to 4.49pm as detailed on the charge.”

Sarah Tipper, from Sainsbury’s executive office, accepted Tony’s evidence, instructed Euro Car Parks to cancel the fine and sent him a £25 e-gift card as a goodwill gesture.

She said the cameras may have failed to log Tony’s departure at 11.50am and his return at 4pm because of “vehicle tailgating” obstructing their view of his registration plates.

Tony concluded: “Thank God I found a timed receipt from Lidl from later that day. Others might not be so lucky.”